June 6, 2013

If stupidity were a felony, ex-county Supervisor George Shirakawa would be spending a lot more time in jail. The new charges filed by District Attorney Jeff Rosen against Shirakawa, resulting from DNA samples found on a political dirty trick mailer, is the latest example. But this brings us to a new problem: Shirakawa didnât act alone. The pieces were written, designed and printed by others. There must be more DNA out there that identifies those who helped. These folks should be lawyering up right now.

June 5, 2013

A cloud has been cast over the 2010 election of San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos with this morningâs announcement that George Shirakawa Jr. participated in a covert effort to change the electionâs outcome, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney. Shirakawa, the disgraced former county supervisor who will be sentenced for unrelated crimes Friday, allegedly licked stamps affixed to fraudulent campaign mailers that were designed to discredit council candidate Magdalena Carrasco, who lost two close elections to Campos, a friend and staffer of Shirakawaâs at the time of the crime.